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Bras N Things censured by ad watchdog for Playboy lingerie in-store video

An in-store video ad for Bras N Things Playboy lingerie has been banned by the ad watchdog for not treating the issue of sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity.

The video – similar to the video shown in this post – featured a woman wearing different styles of Playboy-branded lingerie and the video camera moving over the model’s body to highlight the details on the lingerie. The complained about video had no audio.

A  complaint to the Ads Standard Board suggested the ad was “amateur porn”.

“They were not merely modelling the underwear, they were moving suggestively, gyrating and looking lasciviously at the camera – like a very amateur porn movie. It was a demeaning and embarrassing display,” the complaint read.

Another complain suggested the video was “vulgar” and “unsuitable for the young” with the video on being displayed on a “large screen so seeing it was unavoidable”.

Bras N Things defended the video, saying the store had “received very little feedback from customers”; however, in an effector to be “respectful” to shopping centres, the videos were replaced with stills.

“The video advertisement is playing on digital screens in our store window in limited stores,” the retailer told the ASB.

“There is no sound with the video, it is imagery only.”

While the board noted that Bras N Things is allowed to advertise the products available to purchase, it was the board’s view that the “manner in which the lingerie is model by the woman is sexualised”.

It was the board’s view that “the silent, moving image draws the eye of passers-by” and considered that “the model is stroking her hair and her moving her body suggestively and that this amounts to a sexualised impact”.

The board considered that as there is no branding of the shop or the particular line of lingerie in the video, “there is a more sexualised impact of the material as the focus is on the woman’s body rather than on what she is wearing”.

The board upheld the complaints.

In response to the ruling, Bras N Things said the campaign had concluded and all related video footage had been removed from stores on July 31.

“The video footage will not be used again,” the store said.

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